Edmonia Lewis angrily recounts the racial discrimination she endured . She also stresses the betrayal African Americans suffered after the racist violence of the postwar era forced them “ back under the boot ” of oppressive whites . This play also examines the pain of betrayal by loved ones , notably when the ghosts of the famous nineteenth-century actress Charlotte Cushman and her former lover , the sculptor Harriet Hosmer , accuse each other of infidelity and slander . Cushman also feels betrayed by the fact that memories of her artistry will not survive . Unlike sculptors whose works endure , her performances “ disappeared ” once she left the stage . “ I am but dust , dust , dust ,” she laments .
Several plays also explore how overseas horrors seared the lives of immigrant Americans . In “ All the Broken Pieces ,” memories of the Turkish genocide of the Armenian people in the early twentieth century haunt several generations of survivors as they struggle to establish new lives in Watertown . As Tzolag , the refugee child who becomes a successful American architect , states : “ When people are broken and reassembled so many times , there are sharp edges left behind .” Terrible memories also mar the life of another successful architect , the Irish-American Martin Milmore , in “ Man of Vision .” His recollections of the horrors of the Irish potato famine , that killed a million of his countrymen , drive him to work obsessively and drink excessively .
However , even as these plays explore dark themes , they also reflect how the natural beauty of Mount Auburn Cemetery mitigates people ’ s “ regrets ” and “ melancholy .” As Bigelow proclaims , there is “ peace to be had ” in the Cemetery .
Myra C . Glenn is professor of American history at Elmira College , Elmira , NY , and the author of Dr . Harriot Kezia Hunt : Nineteenth-Century Physician and Woman ’ s Rights Advocate ( University of Massachusetts Press , 2018 ).